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An individual has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and was given his jail term extended to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not given by another,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that woman.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the process of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness brought by the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that once a year he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.